[05] At Harvard College, sixty-eight Commencements were held in the old parish church which "occupied a portion of the space between Dane Hall and the old Presidential House." The period embraced was from 1758 to 1834. There was no Commencement in 1764, on account of the small-pox; nor from 1775 to 1781, seven years, on account of the Revolutionary war. The first Commencement in the new meeting-house was held in 1834. In 1835, there was rain at Commencement, for the first time in thirty-five years.
[06] The graduating class usually waited on the table at dinner
on Commencement Day.
[07] Rev. John Willard, S.T.D., of Stafford, Conn., a graduate
of the class of 1751.
[08] "Men, some to pleasure, some to business, take;
But every woman is at heart a rake."
[09] Rev. Joseph Willard, S.T.D.
[10] The Rev. Dr. Simeon Howard, senior clergyman of the Corporation, presided at the public exercises and announced the degrees.
[11] See under THESIS and MASTER'S QUESTION.
[12] The old way of spelling the word SOPHOMORE, q.v.
[13] Speaking of Bachelors who are reading for fellowships, Bristed says, they "wear black gowns with two strings hanging loose in front."—Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 20.
[14] Bristed speaks of the "blue and silver gown" of Trinity Fellow-Commoners.—Five Years in an Eng. Univ., Ed. 2d, p. 34.